Novalić visits Bimal, we can be independent in oil production

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fadil Novalić, visited the company Bimal d.d. Brčko today during his stay in Brčko District of BiH, our only company that produces oil and sugar.

After the visit, Prime Minister Novalić stated that we are witnessing the biggest market disruption precisely in food products, especially oil.

- It is quite clear that we have the production capacity. What we lack is the raw materials for that production capacity - said Prime Minister Novalić.  

He noted that BiH consumes about forty million liters of oil.

- There are capacities, land, soil, knowledge, everything, so that, similar to the milk industry, we can bring this production to a level with incentives, so that we can produce those 40 million liters from our own raw materials, so we don't depend. In crises, countries close off both production and raw materials - stated the federal prime minister.

He said that today in Posavina Canton they also discussed wheat, "so this means a new turn in the production of key goods".

- So, in crises, we have become convinced that these are no longer just market goods, they are crucially important for the nutrition of the population and we cannot view them as market goods - stated Prime Minister Novalić.  

The General Director of the company Bimal d.d. Brčko, Ilija Studen, said that Bimal is the only producer of edible oil in BiH.

He thanked the delegation of the Government of the Federation of BiH and the federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalić for visiting the company, in order to constructively discuss the problems of supplying the BiH market with food products.

According to him, the issue of oil supply is extremely relevant, not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but for the whole of Europe and the whole world, since the crisis with the war in Ukraine began.

- There we saw that the situation is such that the problem is not just the price, but the problem is whether that product is available at all. The main problem for us in BiH is that we do not have enough of our own raw materials. The Government of the Federation of BiH and the politics within BiH are working to ensure sufficient raw materials for the production of vital food products, among which oil is one of the most important products - stated Studen.

He added that they at Bimal have been working for a long time to ensure domestic production of oilseeds, and assessed that there has been significant progress in the last four to five years.

- With the support of politics, the Government of FBiH, the whole of BiH, and we hope RS as well, the situation will be such that we have enough of our own raw materials to produce our own oil and to be able to supply the market with a quality product at normal prices in crisis situations - said Studen.